Former resident creates PSC Scholarship for Keyser High School grads

Beginning with Fall 2017, a two-year scholarship to WVU Potomac State College will be awarded annually to a graduating senior of Keyser High School. This endowed scholarship was created by George K. Oss, a native of Keyser, with a gift of $100,000 to the WVU Foundation. The annual award, to be called the Dulin Memorial Scholarship, is in memory of his late grandmother, Cora A. Dulin.

The scholarship will provide $4,000 toward tuition at Potomac State College over a two-year period. Eligibility will be based on academic achievement, extracurricular activities and financial need. Recipients shall be determined by the Potomac State College Enrollment Services Office.

Oss is a graduate of Keyser High School and attended Potomac State College before going on to West Virginia University (WVU), where he earned his bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering in 1958. He began his career in solid propellant rocket propulsion at Allegany Ballistics Laboratory and joined Atlantic Research Corporation (ARC) in Alexandria, Va. in 1963.

During his twenty-six year tenure with ARC, he headed the company’s sounding rocket business and later became vice-president and general manager of the Teleproducts Division, the company’s commercial division specializing in the design, development and manufacturing of data communications test equipment.

During 1976, Oss was one of a group of ten managers who bought ARC from its parent company and operated as a privately-held corporation before later going public. He joined Versar Laboratories of Springfield, Va. during 1989 and served as president until his retirement in 1992.

Oss has more than thirty years of experience in engineering and management, most notably in the field of rocket propulsion, where he holds five patents.

Oss has previously been honored by Keyser High School and is a member of the Legion of Honor and the J. Edward Kelley Society. He is a charter member of the Academy of Distinguished Alumni, Aerospace Engineering, at WVU and has received the Alumni Achievement Award from Potomac State College.

He is married to the former Joann Armentrout of Danville, Md., who is a graduate of Bruce High School and Potomac State College. They currently reside at Lake Monticello near Palmyra, Va.

The gift was made in conjunction with A State of Minds: The Campaign for West Virginia’s University which runs through December 2017.